ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday grilled former law minister Babar Awan for his remarks regarding the judiciary and issued a show cause notice to him, DawnNews reported.

During a hearing of the Bhutto reference here, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took serious notice of Awan’s comments in the media after the court issued a contempt notice to him and other members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday.

After deciding to hear the Bhutto reference later, the chief justice asked Awan as to why he ridiculed the notices issued to PPP leaders and said: If you would not respect the state’s institutions, then who would?

Justice Iftikhar said that he was in favour of criticising the judiciary but Awan's comments were not criticism, adding that Awan was not issued a license to insult the apex court.

Moreover, Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja decided to quit the bench after viewing footage of the comments.

He was quoted as saying that he would not forgive Awan even if 10 other judges on the bench would decide to pardon him.

Arrangements were made on the court’s orders for footage and news clips of the remarks given by the former minister.

Moreover, office bearers of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) apologised to the court over Awan's comments.

The court adjourned the reference’s hearing and directed Awan to submit his response by Jan 9.